The Delhi government's vigilance department has served a notice to senior IAS officer Udit Prakash Rai for the construction of an official accommodation following the demolition of a 15th-century monument during his tenure as DJB's chief executive officer.

The department has also issued show cause notices to five Delhi Jal Board (DJB) engineers for their alleged connivance in the demolition of the monument and construction of the official residence of the board's CEO.

The monument located in South East Delhi’s Jal Vihar near Lajpat Nagar finds a mention in the ASI’s list of Muhammadan and Hindu monuments prepared in the 20th century and is identified as Mahal, built during the Sayyid rule in Delhi.

According to the ASI listing, the structure made of brick masonry and red sandstone consisted of three arched courtyards on the north and south, each flanked by two compartments at either wing.

The vigilance notice says that following a visit in January 2021, the Department of Archaeology wrote to the DJB, seeking possession of the monument and a gateway for conservation. When the department returned to the site in January this year, it found that the monument had vanished.

According to the notice, DJB was in touch with the archaeology department regarding the handover of the monument till January 2021, but the communication came to a halt after Rai took charge with effect from November 2021.

It says that the communication was stopped, and the construction of the residence was taken up.

Rai has been given two weeks to respond to the notice. In August 2022, Delhi L G V K Saxena recommended to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) action against Rai for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 50 lakh.

A 2007 batch IAS officer of AGMUT cadre, Rai is currently posted in Mizoram. No reaction was immediately available from him over the Vigilance department notice.

Image source: India Today